Process Application Note
Sugar Inversion and Brix in Soft Drinks: Cobrix3 multibev
Measures Both!
The recipe for the production of a specific soft drink
1. Introduction is either based on the sucrose concentration in the
fresh product or total inverted product. Since the
Soft drinks are produced from syrup (or density of a sugar solution increases during storage,
concentrate), water and carbon dioxide. density measurement does not give precise
An important quality control parameter during information about the “real” initial sucrose content.
production is the density of the syrup and the
finished product, mainly reflecting the concentration
Degree of Brix
of sweetener. For further details, see the Anton inversion
Paar's process application note “On-line Density
Measurement in the Soft Drink Industry” [1].
„Sugar“ (= saccharose = sucrose) is the traditional 10.5°Brix
sweetener used for the production of soft drinks and 100%
is derived from cane or beets. Its concentration is
given in °Brix (= %w/w).
10°Brix
Soft drink producers who use sucrose as the 0%
sweetener face the problem of “sugar inversion”:
time
During storage, sucrose solutions undergo a slow
Fig. 2 Degree of inversion over time
conversion into a 1:1 mixture of glucose and
fructose, also called „invert sugar“.
Each molecule of sucrose splits into one molecule of Constant product quality of a soft drink greatly
glucose and one molecule of fructose (see fig. 1) at depends on the correct mixing ratio of the syrup with
the same time consuming one molecule of water. water. This mixing ratio can only be determined if the
This "sugar inversion" is enhanced by the presence original sucrose concentration (°Brix-fresh) or the
of acids (contained in most beverages) and by glucose- und fructose concentration at complete
elevated temperatures. inversion (Brix-Inverted) of the syrup is known. The
determination of °Brix-fresh from partially or
Due to the inversion process, the density of the
completely inverted syrups is therefore very
sugar solution increases causing a considerable
important.
change in the °Brix value e.g. from 10.40 °Brix (Brix-
fresh) to 11.98 °Brix (Brix-inverted). Depending on For QC purposes the °Brix-fresh or the Brix-inverted
inversion degree the Brix value (Brix-actual) will lie of finished products must also be determined. Since
between Brix-fresh value and Brix-inverted value. the density changes during storage depending on
the degree of inversion, °Brix-fresh or Brix-inverted is
the only meaningful result which can be used to
Sucrose
compare different production batches.
Glucose
Glucose
+ H2O inversion
Fructose Fructose
Fig. 1 The „sugar inversion“ process
Anton Paar High-precision Instruments Tel.: +43 (0)316 257-0 [Link]
[Link] E-mail: info@[Link] Page 1 of 5
Process Application Note
2. Determination of Brix-fresh and Brix-
inverted
There are 2 ways to determine the °Brix-fresh and
Brix-inverted of an inverted sucrose solution:
(1) The traditional “Forced Inversion Method”:
All the sucrose is forced to invert fully by adding acid
and increasing the temperature. The final solution
contains invert sugar (1:1 mixture of fructose and
glucose). By measuring the density using the
corresponding tables it is possible to determine the
invert sugar concentration and calculate the original
sucrose content (= °Brix-fresh).
(2) The more convenient “Anton Paar Method”:
The density and sound velocity of the partially
inverted sample are measured and °Brix-fresh or
Brix-inverted is automatically calculated using a
special software. The principle of the calculation is
described below [2]. Fig. 4 Determining the inversion compensated density
Figure 3 shows the dependence of density and
sound velocity on pure sucrose and invert sugar To calculate the density of the initial sucrose
concentrations with increasing concentration. solution, a line parallel to the inversion line has to be
drawn through this measuring point. The crossing
point of this line with the sucrose line gives the
density of the initial sucrose solution. The crossing
point of this line with the inverted sugar line gives
the density of completely inverted solution (see fig.
4.).
The quality control of inverted sugar solutions in the
laboratory is carried out using the DSA 5000 Soft
Drink Analyzer from Anton Paar. The inversion
compensation of the measured density and the
calculation of °Brix-fresh are performed automatically
(see figure 3).
For further information, see Anton Paar's application
note „Sugar Inversion and °Brix in Soft Drinks: DSA
5000 Measures Both!“ [3].
For the on-line quality control of inverted soft drinks
the Cobrix3 multibev beverage analyzer for sugar
inversion is used.
The Cobrix3 multibev measures density, sound
Fig. 3 Density and sound velocity dependent on sucrose velocity, temperature and CO2 content
and invert sugar concentrations simultaneously.
The measured density is compensated for
Partially inverted sucrose solutions contain both, temperature and CO2 (measured with the integrated
invert sugar and sucrose. The density and sound CARBO 2100 CO2 transducer). The density reading
velocity measuring points are therefore located is also compensated for sugar inversion using the
between the two lines. sound velocity reading (see fig.5).
Anton Paar High-precision Instruments Tel.: +43 (0)316 257-0 [Link]
[Link] E-mail: info@[Link] Page 2 of 5
Process Application Note
the tube. Sound velocity is measured by an
ultrasonic transmitter and receiver located on one
side of the U-tube. The electronics measures the
propagation time of the ultrasonic pulses through the
sample and calculates the sound velocity.
Information on the oscillation period, sound velocity
and temperature is transferred to the evaluation unit
and used for the calculation of concentrations.
When measuring carbonated soft drinks, the
influence of carbon dioxide has to be considered as
well. CO2 measurement is performed with the
CARBO 2100 CO2 transducer.
3.2 Carbon dioxide measurement
Fig. 7 Measuring principle of the CARBO 2100
Fig. 5 Determining the inversion and CO2 compensated
density
The method for determining the CO2 content is
3. On-line measuring principles based on Henry’s Law, which defines the
relationship between the concentration of the
dissolved gas and its saturation pressure.
3.1 Density and sound velocity measurement
A sample of the product is separated in a small
measuring chamber. A special Anton Paar
degassing device brings the chamber pressure to
the corresponding saturation pressure within a few
seconds. Then the saturation pressure and the
temperature of the sample are measured and the
content of dissolved CO2 is calculated and used for
density compensation.
The measurement is repeated every 15 seconds.
The conversion of saturation pressure and
temperature into a CO2 content is based on the
formulas by Prof. Dr. Manfred H. Pahl,
Fig. 6 Diagram of a DSRn transducer
Dipl. Ing. Markus Rammert, University Paderborn [4].
In the Anton Paar DSRn transducer, density is
measured according to the oscillating U-tube
technique.
The U-shaped sample tube is made of Hastelloy
C276 and is excited to a continuous oscillation at its
natural frequency by means of a magneto-electrical
excitation system. The oscillation frequency is
related to the density of the sample flowing through
Anton Paar High-precision Instruments Tel.: +43 (0)316 257-0 [Link]
[Link] E-mail: info@[Link] Page 3 of 5
Process Application Note
4. The Cobrix3 multibev for sugar • The Cobrix3 multibev provides real-time data of the
inversion measured parameters, activates alarms if pre-
selected concentration limits are exceeded and
Cobrix3 multibev for sugar inversion provides signals for controller or recording devices.
TM
consists of • density sensor for °Brix and %Diet • The Windows based DAVIS software is easy to
analysis use and performs data acquisition and statistical
• sound velocity sensor for analysis for different products.
- automatic compensation of sugar Measuring data are displayed in diagrams that
inversion facilitate the monitoring of the production process.
- determination of alcohol content
• CO2 Transducer for carbon dioxide For practical information on the Cobrix3 multibev
determination with sugar inversion compensation, see the report
• data processing unit „QC in real-time“ in Beverage World International,
• pump with new liquid sensor and Nov/Dec 1998.
pump control
• flow monitor 5. Applications and benefits
• process-matched IP 55 (NEMA)
housing and frame 5.1. Installation of Cobrix3 multibev at the Filler
• DAVIS data acquisition and control
software for Windows
TM
The on-line quality control of inverted soft drinks at
the filler can be carried out using the Cobrix3
multibev beverage analyzer for sugar inversion.
measures density,
°Brix-fresh, °Brix-inverted, °Brix-actual and the CO2
sound velocity,
content are continuously monitored to assure
carbon dioxide (CO2),
constant product quality.
temperature
performs automatic inversion, temperature and
CO2 correction of density
determines • °Brix-fresh
• °Brix-inverted
• °Brix-actual
• % Diet
• % Alcohol
• Density
• Extract
• Original extract
• Actual extract Fig.8 Inversion over time
• apparent extract
• Fermentation degree
• CO2
Benefits:
• Elimination of out-of-specification products
• Line pressure
• Improvement of production efficiency by
• Temperature
significant savings of syrup and CO2
• NaOH concentration
• Quick identification of production problems
• etc.
• Traceable quality, automatic storage and
• The Cobrix3 multibev is a compact system with all
recording of all relevant data
its components (DSRn, CARBO 2100,
mPDS 2000V3, valves, pump,…) mounted onto a
rack. Within one day the system is installed and
ready to go.
• The compact design of the Cobrix3 multibev
guarantees optimal measuring conditions (constant
flow rate,…).
Anton Paar High-precision Instruments Tel.: +43 (0)316 257-0 [Link]
[Link] E-mail: info@[Link] Page 4 of 5
Process Application Note
5.2. Quality control of syrup
8. Summary
For the determination of the original sugar content in
the syrup (°Brix-fresh) or the glucose and fructose
concentration at complete inversion (Brix-inverted) a Anton Paar equipment provides continuous and
DSRn density and sound velocity transducer with automatic measurement of °Brix-fresh, °Brix-actual,
mPDS 2000V3 evaluation unit is used. % Diet and carbon dioxide content directly on the
soft drink production line. High accuracy and
Benefits: repeatability as well as long-term reliability are
Syrup quality is continuously monitored at every guaranteed.
stage of sugar inversion. Over the years Anton Paar equipment has become a
Basis for the correct mixing ratio of syrup with water standard in on-line beverage quality control.
for soft drink production.
6. Technical Data 9. References
Measuring range
Sugar: 0 to 80 °Brix , 0 to 200 %Diet
Temperature: 0 to 105 °C
[1] “On-line Density Measurement in the Soft Drink
Industry”, Anton Paar Process application note
CO2: 0 to 10 Vol (= 0 to 20 g/l)
Temperature: -5 to 30 °C
Max. pressure: 10 Bar
[2] (a) “Determination of the concentrations of soft
Max. sample temperature: 121 °C
drinks containing sucrose taking into account
the sugar inversion”, H. Stabinger, H. Heimel,
Ambient condition:
S. Reichenpfader, E. Zwangsleitner,
Temperature: 0 to 35 °C
Mitteilungen aus dem Labor für Meßtechnik 3-
humidity: 10 to 90 %, not condensed
10/1991.
(b) “°Brix Measurement on Soft Drinks Using
the Anton Paar DSA 48“, Test Report Swiss
Lab, 1995.
7. Measuring accuracy
[3] “Density Measurement in the Soft Drink
• Density and sound velocity Industry”,
Based on density and sound velocity Anton Paar Lab application note
measurements, the Cobrix3 multibev determines
the sugar concentration with an accuracy of ±
0.02 °Brix and the diet concentration with typical
accuracy of 0.5 % Diet. [4] M. Rammert, M. H. Pahl, Die Löslichkeit von
Kohlendioxid in Getränken, Brauwelt 12, 488 -
499
• CO2 content
The accuracy in CO2 determination is limited to
± 0.025 Vol (= 0.05 g/l) due to varying sample
compositions.
Anton Paar High-precision Instruments Tel.: +43 (0)316 257-0 [Link]
[Link] E-mail: info@[Link] Page 5 of 5